"The attributes of a Magical Tool will be examined using this."
The Chief Priest came carrying a round, tray-like object. At its center was a mysterious metal plate about five centimeters in diameter that shimmered with seven colors, with seven colored sections radiating outward like spokes. Lines were drawn at roughly three-centimeter intervals from the edge of the plate, so at first glance it resembled a dartboard.
"You place the material here."
When told to try it, I broke off the tip of a dried tree root and placed the piece on the Magical Tool's plate.
"Hwah!?"
The moment I set the root fragment on the central plate, light began stretching long across the yellow section. At the same time, the blue section glowed briefly.
"Does this mean it has a strong wind attribute with just a little bit of fire attribute as well?"
"That's right. And the way this light stretches tells us about its quality."
Apparently, if the light stopped in the smallest circle, the quality was poor, and the further it stretched, the better the quality. This tree root's light stretched nearly to the outermost circle, so its quality was quite good.
"That's fascinating. Then, this one…"
I reached out to check the attributes of the powder next, but the Chief Priest grabbed my hand to stop me.
"Wait,
"Yes."
Eustachus brought out his Staff and quickly cleaned the plate. The refreshed plate was placed back in the center.
"Chief Priest, I'd like to learn that cleaning spell too. It's very useful."
"Just have your Attendant do it. You move around too much on your own. Don't take the work from those around you."
"But… when you sequester yourself in the workshop to run experiments, don't you clean it yourself, Chief Priest?"
Eustachus had said he wasn't allowed in. I puffed out my cheeks in protest, and the Chief Priest waved his hand with an extremely exasperated expression.
"The knights know the spell, so ask
"Um, Lord
Damuel looked bewildered, but the Chief Priest nodded matter-of-factly.
"With only two Guard Knights at your disposal, if you think about which of them is better suited to teaching others, the answer is obvious."
"Damuel is wonderful. He taught me all about lectures and bookwork."
Angelic's cheeks flushed slightly as she praised Damuel in a bashful manner, like a maiden who'd inadvertently swooned while being tutored. But don't be fooled—she was simply doing her utmost to avoid work she found unsuitable.
Damuel, having long since learned not to be taken in by
"Lord Ferdinand, what is this liquid in the bottle? Is it oil?"
When I shook the bottle, the liquid moved sluggishly, so I asked out of curiosity. I was thinking that if it was a high-quality oil, I might be able to pass the information along to the ink workshop.
"Ah, it's oil extracted from a magical tree called Kuruize."
"…Kuruize—isn't that an upgraded variety of Ize?"
"It is. How do you know that?"
One of the oils used to make colored ink was Ize. If Kuruize was the higher-tier variety, it should have similar properties, even if the quality differed.
"Ize has a strong wind attribute, right?"
"…That's correct."
"Then does that mean linseed oil has a strong fire attribute, Mish has a strong water attribute, and Pede has a strong earth attribute?"
"I can't make heads or tails of what you're saying. If you're going to ask questions, explain them in a way I can understand."
Glared at by the Chief Priest, I told him about the colored inks being made at
"That's almost certainly being influenced by attributes. Things with high Magic Power and from which magic stones can be obtained are called magical beasts and plants, but living things that dwell in land saturated with Magic Power all possess it to some degree. Commoners are no exception. That's precisely why Contract Magic works using blood that contains the most Magic Power."
"I see."
In other words, if this attribute-checking Magical Tool were available at the ink workshop, wouldn't ink research progress much more quickly?
"Chief Priest, how much does this Magical Tool cost?"
"It's not for sale. If you want one, make it yourself."
"I have to make this one too!? …Please make one for me as well."
"Refused. Gathering the magic stones that respond to trace amounts of Magic Power, extracting purely single attributes, and preparing a full set for all attributes is extremely difficult. I'll teach you the method, so make it yourself."
If the Chief Priest said it was extremely difficult, then it truly must be. I decided to give up before even attempting it. It would be convenient to have, but I could still do ink research without it.
"…Sorry,
"Still, for Commoners to have gathered all those materials—even if they were mostly low-quality—and to have researched it to the point of getting reliable results is quite impressive."
"Hee hee hee. My Gutenberg craftsmen are exceptional."
When I proudly puffed out my chest and boasted about Gutenberg, Eustachus chuckled softly and shrugged.
"For Heidi, ink is what books are to Lady Rozemyne. The Gutenberg craftsmen that Lady Rozemyne has cultivated are each specialists in their respective skills."
"So there are multiple Rozemynes with different specializations? That makes sense."
…I was understood!?
"Enough idle chatter—let's start making the ink."
"Yes."
"What we're making now is Magic-Power-infused ink. It's a slight variation of the ink sold to Commoner merchants for use in Contract Magic."
The Contract Magic ink
"It's made using surprisingly complicated steps."
When I heard that nobles didn't particularly need this ink since they used Magical Tool pens to write with their own Magic Power, a realization struck me.
"…If I use a Magical Tool pen to draw directly on the cloth, don't I not need to make any ink at all?"
"No. I intend to infuse the cloth with your Magic Power as well. Since both would be the same Magic Power, they'd blend together and the magic circle would be meaningless."
I didn't entirely understand, but it seemed what was needed was a high-viscosity ink that wouldn't let Magic Power mix with Magic Power—and that the Magic Power concentration needed to be raised as well.
"I don't really get it, but I'll do as you say."
Making the Magical Tool ink followed the same basic process as when I made Yuleve. I just had to add the materials in order and keep stirring with a blending rod. The difference from last time was that this time, I formed the blending rod from my Staff.
"Chop this finely. You'll need to transform your Staff into a knife—do you remember how?"
While being glared at by the Chief Priest, I was pretty sure I hadn't forgotten what we'd done at the
"Knife."
I transformed my Staff into a knife and chopped the tree root into fine pieces as instructed. I'd been worried that a dried-out root like this wouldn't cut with a knife, but since it was being cut by Magic Power, it went through without needing much force.
Getting carried away, I started mincing it, at which point Angelica remarked, "For someone doing this for the first time, you're remarkably practiced."
"N-No, it's not my first time. I've helped Lord Ferdinand before."
"You've helped with blending too? That's amazing."
…I had made Yuleve, but the mincing came from my cooking experience during my time as Reiko and in the commoner district.
I let out a little "hee hee" laugh and deflected, and everyone else who knew I was from the commoner district—everyone except Angelica—sighed in unison. I thought I heard the Chief Priest mutter, "Fool."
After finishing the mincing, I chanted "Lueken" and released the Staff's transformation once. Then I weighed everything on a balance, and once all the materials were prepared, the blending began.
"The first thing to add is the base material with the highest quality."
"Yes."
"This blending pot should suffice for today."
The Chief Priest produced a small blending pot that looked like a single-hand saucepan.
I put the minced root into the blending pot first. Next, I chanted "Beimene" to transform my Staff into a blending rod. When the Chief Priest saw that I'd unconsciously created a blending rod taller than myself—an old habit—he pressed his fingers to his temples.
"Fool. You can't use a rod that large in such a small pot. Imagine something shorter and more practical."
"Yes."
I composed myself and started over. After chanting "Lueken" to release the transformation, I chanted "Beimene" and transformed the Staff into a blending rod roughly the size of a pestle matched to the pot.
Stir, stir, stir, stir… Stir, stir, stir, stir…
"Like before, once it dissolves into a thick paste, I add the next ingredient?"
"Ah yes. Next, add this powder, then that oil. To raise your Magic Power concentration, add this last."
Arranged on the workbench by the Chief Priest, the materials appeared in the order they needed to be added. After putting in the base root, I added Kuruize oil and blended it in. On top of that went a blue-attribute powder to increase the Magic Power contained in the ink, followed by a small amount of red-attribute liquid to help the ink adhere to the cloth. The last ingredient was the golden powder that formed when Magic Power was overloaded into a magic stone.
Stir, stir, stir, stir… Stir, stir, stir, stir…
Whether it was a quality issue or because the blending rod formed from the Staff was more efficient, the minced pieces began dissolving surprisingly quickly.
I poured in the thick, gooey Kuruize oil and kept stirring.
Stir, stir, stir, stir… Stir, stir, stir, stir…
I sprinkled in the powder and stirred further. I poured in the liquid with a splash and stirred with abandon.
I could feel quite a bit of Magic Power being drained.
Stir, stir, stir, stir… Stir, stir, stir, stir…
"Chief Priest, even with my body reinforcement, I'm getting tired…"
"It'll be done soon. You're the one who said you wanted to make ink, so endure it."
Just as the Chief Priest said that, the surface of the viscous liquid flashed with light for an instant.
"Is it done?"
"No, this is the final step. It's a clump of your Magic Power, after all. The Magic Power concentration should be rising."
Following the Chief Priest's instructions, I sprinkled in the golden powder and stirred. After a brief stir, the surface flashed again.
"It's done. Be careful not to spill it—transfer it to this bottle."
When told by the Chief Priest, I transferred the finished ink into a bottle. It turned out to be a blue ink much like the Contract Magic ink I'd used at Benno's shop.
My excitement rose as I looked at my own creation.
"Chief Priest, may I do a test writing? I want to get a sense of how much it bleeds."
I left the workshop and asked
Returning to the workshop, I spread the cloth on the workbench and drew a line on it with the freshly made blue ink. The pen glided smoothly. The line it produced was surprisingly clean.
Even after watching for a while, it didn't bleed. If anything, the ink rose slightly in relief. It was similar to the fluffy pens I'd used during my Reiko era.
"What is this?"
"…It doesn't bleed."
Even without a resist agent, there was no sign of bleeding. With this, I wouldn't need a resist agent at all.
My mind had been racing with plans—asking
"Don't get your hopes up yet. You need to test it on Magic-Power-infused cloth to know for certain whether it truly doesn't bleed."
The Chief Priest furrowed his brow into a deep frown, glaring at the slightly puffy ink lines with a troubled expression.
"…Why do you look so dissatisfied?"
"I'm not dissatisfied. I'm simply bewildered because it turned out differently from what I expected."
As far as I was concerned, as long as my new fluffy ink didn't flake off over time, it was a success—but the Chief Priest was clearly not convinced.
"Rozemyne, dye this cloth with Magic Power. I want to see whether the same result holds on cloth that's been infused with Magic Power."
"Chief Priest, I used Magic Power making the ink too, and I'm quite tired…"
My thoughts of "Isn't this good enough?" must have shown on my face, because the Chief Priest, who'd been studying my complexion with slight concern, raised one eyebrow.
"Then take a potion. You'll recover immediately."
"I'll do it."
Rather than being forcibly fed some foul-tasting medicine, I figured it was better to push through a little more.
Stir, stir, stir, stir… Stir, stir, stir, stir…
While the Chief Priest continuously tossed materials into the pot, I kept stirring.
The surface flashed brightly, and into the finished red liquid went the cloth I'd test-written on, cut in half. With a heavy splash, the cloth instantly absorbed the liquid in the pot.
"Hyah!?"
The cloth in the pot should have absorbed the red liquid, yet its color hadn't changed, nor was it wet. It looked exactly the same as the test-written cloth still sitting on the workbench.
"I don't see any change at all—is it really infused with Magic Power now?"
"It is. Touch it and you'll see."
When I grabbed the cloth to pull it out, the whole thing glowed faintly.
"Wow!"
"Since it's dyed with your Magic Power, it responds most strongly to yours. Of course, it will respond to others' Magic Power as well. When cloth is pre-dyed with Magic Power like this, it makes it easier for Magic Power to flow through when you embroider a magic circle, increasing its effectiveness."
"Huh…"
Apparently, dyeing cloth with Magic Power wasn't all that difficult. Both Angelica and Damuel apparently dyed their own mantles with their own Magic Power.
"Try that ink on it now."
"Yes."
I tried the fluffy ink. The sensation of drawing a line was no different from regular cloth, and just like before, the ink rose slightly in relief over time.
"…It seems to work fine."
"Why?"
The Chief Priest looked puzzled, took the pen from my hand, and drew a line. The edges looked slightly blurred. There was almost no raised texture.
"When the Chief Priest drew a line, it bled just a little."
"It did bleed."
"…Why?"
"I don't know.
"Yes, sir!"
When Eckhart drew a line, it bled noticeably. There was no raised texture at all. Eustachus wanted to try too, so I handed him the pen. His lines bled as well. I think they bled even more than Eckhart's.
The Chief Priest's expression grew even more troubled.
"Angelic, Damuel. You two try as well."
"Yes."
Angelic, Damuel—the bleeding got progressively worse. Damuel's was the worst of all. The difference between his fluffy pen marks and the ones I'd drawn was like comparing a pen to an ink wash.
"Could it be… the amount of Magic Power the writer possesses?"
"Or perhaps the attribute or quality of their Magic Power… We'll need to investigate in detail. Rozemyne, may I keep this ink?"
The Chief Priest's mad-scientist switch had been flipped. The materials had been his, and as long as it didn't interfere with daily life in the
"If you promise to eat before retreating into the workshop and to be out by the third bell tomorrow, then I don't mind."
He glared at me for being a nuisance, but I was absolutely against being mobilized just to drag the Chief Priest out of the workshop. I was determined to protect my reading time.
"Fine. Eustachus, have the Attendants prepare a meal. In the meantime, I'll finish as much work as I can. …Damuel, leave the tidying up to you."
"Yes!?"
Damuel, startled by the sudden assignment, was left behind as the Chief Priest grabbed the bottle of ink and bustled out with Eustachus and Eckhart in tow.
"…Why me?"
"Perhaps it's because people think Angelica handles tools carelessly."
"That's true—she was scolded often by Professor Hirshur at the Royal Academy. But how did Lord Ferdinand know that?"
I couldn't bring myself to say, "Well, if you watch Angelica for even a little while, anyone would notice," so I just shrugged lightly.
"He told you to teach me the cleaning spell, didn't he?"
"Now that you mention it, that is what he said."
I stayed in the workshop and taught Damuel the cleaning spell. All it took was channeling Magic Power into the Staff while chanting "Vasschen," so it wasn't particularly difficult.
"If you don't have a water attribute, it requires a great deal of Magic Power, but that's hardly a concern for Lady Rozemyne."
Damuel shook his head lightly at that. Since the Magic Power compression had increased my reserves, it was easier now, but apparently cleaning used to be a real chore.
"Then let's clean all the tools around here at once."
I looked over the workbench and channeled Magic Power into my Staff.
"Vasschen!"
The instant the words left my mouth, a torrent of water crashed down like a waterfall, filling the entire workshop in a flash.
Caught in the sudden current, my body lifted off the ground and spun around so wildly I couldn't tell up from down. Eyes wide, completely bewildered, I was gulping water—gah, gah, gah—when the water vanished.
My body, which had been floating in midair, dropped under the pull of gravity. Damuel happened to be right below me. He'd been swept up in the current too and was lying flat on his back.
"Guhah!"
Damuel caught me with his stomach and groaned. Coughing and sputtering, yet still managing to ask, "Are you injured?"—Damuel was the very model of a Guard Knight.
"Koff! Koff!"
Angelic, her eyes spinning from the unexpected deluge, was coughing too. The water was gone, so neither clothes nor hair were actually wet, but the sensation of drowning lingered. I'd experienced that just moments ago myself.
"Lady Rozemyne, what amount of water were you calling for?"
Damuel, flattened beneath me, looked up and glared lightly. I quietly averted my gaze.
"I had no idea the amount of water summoned could change so drastically based on Magic Power. I'll be more careful from now on."
…the cleaning spell. Truly fearsome.
"Rozemyne, sorry to ask, but if you have no plans this afternoon, could you let me into the workshop?"
"Huh?"
The next day, as I was heading to my attendant duties, the Chief Priest said this to me.
He'd taken the ink back to the workshop and had spent the entire night running various experiments—testing it on different papers, cloths, and wooden tablets. After catching a brief nap, he'd woken up to find all the lines had disappeared.
He'd been waiting for me because he wanted to find out what had happened to the cloth I'd left in the workshop. My faint admiration for his keeping his promise about leaving the workshop was fading fast.
"The ink disappears? You can come in, but…if the ink vanishes, it's not usable, is it?"
"If this ink doesn't work, then you simply stop doing unnecessary things and embroider quietly. No problem at all."
…That's exactly why I made the ink in the first place! How cruel!
Once again, my reading time was being stolen. And once again, it was off to the workshop from the afternoon onward. Even I was curious about what had happened to the ink, so I went along.
The workshop, tidied up yesterday, was clean. Damuel brought out a cloth from a wooden box—the one he'd test-written on. When Damuel pulled it out with a look of mild surprise, it was completely blank. The many lines from everyone's test writings, including the bleeded ones, were nowhere to be seen.
"It really has disappeared."
"Aaah…embroidery, then…" I sighed, letting my shoulders drop. But the instant my fingers touched the cloth, it glowed faintly, and lines appeared on its surface. Every line from yesterday's test writings—bleeding and all—was clearly visible for all to see.
"What in the world…?"
As the Chief Priest squinted at the cloth, trying to make sense of it, I spread the cloth out for him to see and slowly shook my head.
"I don't think there's anything I'd know that the Chief Priest doesn't."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Eustachus, wearing the same expression of keen interest as the Chief Priest, studied the cloth and spoke.
"It seems the ink only reacts to and surfaces with Lady Rozemyne's Magic Power—since there was no change when Lord Ferdinand touched it. Lady Rozemyne, may I borrow this?"
When I handed the cloth to Eustachus, the lines disappeared. When I took it back, the lines reappeared.
"If it reacts to a magic stone infused with your Magic Power, then…? In that case, this ink should be usable as-is. With this ink, it's certain that no one other than you could draw the magic circle… Still, how on earth did this happen…"
"Chief Priest, rather than conducting further analysis and experiments, why not make your own ink and test it to your heart's content? It must be tedious to keep asking for my cooperation each time?"
The Chief Priest was the one who'd prepared the blending materials and measured the quantities. He should just make his own ink and experiment as much as he wanted. If the magic circle worked with this ink, anything beyond that was irrelevant.
"Fair point. Sorry for the intrusion."
…Honestly, I just can't keep up with a mad scientist.
I started my reading as planned.
Since I'd remembered the yuzen dyeing technique, I decided to tell the
The ink is done. It's a fluffy ink that disappears over time.
It's a new ink that caught the Chief Priest off guard.
Rozemyne learned the cleaning spell.
Damuel is truly the model of a Guard Knights. Yes, yes.
Next, I meet with the Gilberta Company.